COMPANY NEWS

COMPANY NEWS; U.S. Rescinds Approval of A Malt Liquor

By KURT EICHENWALD

Published: July 4, 1991

The Government ordered the G. Heileman Brewing Company yesterday to stop marketing its Power Master malt liquor, whose high alcohol content had brought protests. Heileman, which said it would comply, will be able to sell existing stocks of the beverage for four months.

Heileman had been told earlier in the day that it faced a potential boycott of its top-selling Colt 45 brand if it continued to market Power Master. The company announced that it was agreeing to discontinue the product because of the "economic burden a legal contest would entail."

Heileman, based in La Crosse, Wis., has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since January. Alcohol Content of 5.9%

The decision was viewed as a success by critics of Power Master, which has an alcohol content of 5.9 percent. They had contended that Power Master was aimed at blacks, who suffer disproportionately from alcohol-related illnesses.

The opponents, led by religious leaders from across the country, asserted that Heileman was using the name Power Master to covertly advertise the higher alcohol content in violation of Federal rules. Power Master has 31 percent more alcohol than Colt 45, which has an alcohol content of 4.5 percent.

In addition to the grass-roots campaign, whose leaders included the Rev. Calvin Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, the product was criticized by Surgeon General Antonia Novello, who contended that Heileman was aiming Power Master at young black men.

The controversy reached a fever pitch yesterday, as Heileman executives met with protesters in Chicago and with officials of the Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. On Tuesday, the bureau ordered the company to stop using the Power Master name. Yesterday, it announced that it had officially withdrawn its earlier approval of the Power Master label and that the company could no longer market the beverage.

But because of the earlier approval, the brewer "will be able to sell existing stocks over the next four months," Stephen E. Higgins, the bureau's director, said in a statement. Earlier Defiance

The ruling came hours after Heileman executives pledged to continue to market Power Master in the face of a boycott. The Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Roman Catholic priest on the South Side of Chicago and a leader of the protest, met for two hours with Michael Evans, a Heileman vice president, and Randy Smith, the company's general counsel, who traveled to Chicago to answer criticism about the brewery's advertising.

The Heileman executives were told that a boycott of Colt 45 was scheduled to start Friday in 10 cities. After the Government issued its ruling, Heileman conceded.

Power Master is the second product aimed at black consumers to be pulled off the shelves in the last year because of protests about health risks. In 1990, the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company abruptly canceled its marketing of Uptown cigarettes.

Opponents said the developments showed that companies could not disregard the concerns of blacks. "This demonstrates to corporations that the black community is taking an activist role in consumer and marketing issues," said Ken Smikle, president of the African American Marketing and Media Association, a trade group.